It was a yellow sand kind of day...

Yesterday we went to the city center by ourselves. We took the bus that waits right outside our campus and got off at the end of the line, in search of Rory's elusive transformer thingy for his computer. We walked around this bustling area that had all kinds of vendors (probably more when it's warmer out); they all stopped what they were doing to stare at us and try to sell us things like really tacky barrettes and meat on a stick. There was a really old man wearing a giant furry hat--one of those hats that screams: "hey, you're not in Missouri anymore...". He knew how to say "hello", so of course he just shouted it over and over and over. We saw some dirty chicken coops, right there in the middle of everything, next to Korean restaurants advertising things like bibimbop and kimbop.

We walked over to this massive supermarket thing that had a revolving ramp we could get up and down on. We bought some new messenger bags--so we look like professionals--and some other things for the "apartment." While we were waiting in line there was an old man standing behind us with his wife. He had on a funny pleather newsboy hat (looks like there's a theme), so I told him I liked his hat. Well, I sort of pointed to it and gave it an enthusiastic thumbs-up. I think it made his day, because after we went outside--while we were shoving our purchases into our new bags--he came out and just stared at us, smiling and speaking a lot of unintelligible Chinese. It was really funny.

We decided to head over to Korea town and try our luck with some barbecue. We walked down a side road and saw some familiar characters next to a building called "The Tomato Bar", so we walked in, and sure enough, it was a barbecue place. So we went in and said hello and some other stuff in Korean. Jaws were on the floor--what are these two foreigners doing in a restaurant in China, speaking Korean? When we actually lived in Korea, and when we wanted an excuse to eat bacon for dinner (samgupsal--I know I probably butchered the spelling...), Rory would always say something along the lines of "there's a lot of yellow sand in the air...". Evidently there is a real problem in Korea with yellow sand blowing over from China. The air gets thick with it, and the locals think that eating this samgupsal will help clear it all out of your system--who needs sand when you can have some sweet clogged arteries, right? We were so excited--how funny is it that our "comfort food" (already) in China is Korean food? We sat down, and Rory declared that it was, indeed, a yellow sand kind of day, so we ordered a couple of helpings of bacon. And some Soju. Can't be in a Korean restaurant without Soju. Then a group of three older folks walked in. Rory asked if they were Korean, and the second he started talking to them, they were our new best friends, asking all about the Chinese/Korean experience. I guess speaking Korean is like riding a Chinese bicycle? Some things you just sort of remember... I feel like we are in a really lucky position--living in a Chinese city with a huge Korean population--both to use our Korean knowledge and to learn all about China.

Earlier in the day, when we first came out of the supermarket, we had looked across the street and noticed something that looked like a bridge or walkway or something, pretty high up and behind some gated temple facade thing. You never know which is a real temple and which is a supermarket entrance. After our Korean lunch--upon further inspection--we walked back and realized that it was an old abandoned theme park thing, with Chinese versions of the tilt-a-whirl and things like that. We paid 30 cents each and went in. We started walking up all these trails, past old, run-down rides (or as we like to call them--photo opportunities...) to the top of this mountain, where there was a really sweet, massive pagoda. It was almost like a Chinese McClung pavilion--you could probably rent it out for birthday parties. I guess I know where I'm partying come November...hahaha. Anyhoo, the view was great, and there were still a bunch of other trails we could take. Our goal for the day (for our entire Chinese experience, too, to a degree) was to get lost and ultimately find our way back "home", so we wandered around, walking up more steps. Side note: did we mention that we have to climb 225 steps every time we enter our campus, just to get from the front door/gate to our apartment on the 5th floor? It's crazy, but it's good excercise. I have a feeling we're going to be doing a lot of walking. We trekked up these steps, stopping at beautiful pagodas to take pictures of the landscape and the incredible view of our city. Once we got to the top, we wanted to keep walking up this huge radio tower thingy. It had steps, but unfortunately it was all locked up. I was sort of glad I didn't have to climb that many more stairs.

We both really had to go to the bathroom, so we looked for a secluded area to pee. I went behind a tiny little abandoned structure, and sure enough, other folks had had the same idea before. Except they left piles of evidence. No need to elaborate. We started walking back down the trail, a little off the beaten path, when Rory says: "Dude, is that a camel?" So we looked through this fence, and sure enough, there was a camel. We had discovered the backside of a freaking zoo. So we looked at each other and said "well, I guess we're going to the zoo." We paid 50 cents each and walked in. It was really funny and run down. There weren't any zoo workers running around, maintaining anything, there weren't gift shops or anything. Basically there were a bunch of dirty animals confined to these tiny, tiny poopy cages. Sorry, PETA. But there were (dirty) lions and (dirty) tigers. We walked up next to this massive bird cage that had swans, turkeys, peacocks and other random birds. I decided it would be a good idea to do the patented Julie turkey call. So I got up in the face of this turkey and did the call. Then the turkey called back. It worked! I made this male turkey want to go steady with me! There were Chinese folks around, and they really got a kick out of it, so I just kept doing it, speaking my foreign turkey language in a dirty, foreign zoo. Some dude who was there took a picture of me on his camera phone. Priceless.

Next we walked out through the main gate of this park, at the backside. We were back to a familiar point where we had caught the bus the day before. So we ran to our bus, made it just in time, and I was forced to sit next to a really nice old man who spoke no English, but who desperately wanted to talk to us--that's how it usually works, huh? A woman got on the bus, and something about her must have made her look like an English speaker, because the man turned her into our translator. It was really funny--I've never seen a bus so crowded before, but no one wanted to move to the back (where there's more room) because they wanted to listen in on the conversation with the foreigners. So we had all these curious Chinese faces leaning in, trying to learn as much about us Americans as their bus rides could afford. The friendly man told me he wanted me to come to his school. "I can teach you Chinese medicine in 3 months", he kept saying. It was too funny. Then he was concerned that we weren't going to get home, even though we knew exactly how to do it. So he made us get off the bus one stop before we were supposed to. Then he told us to take one of the three-wheeled taxis that drive up and down the streets near our school. So even though we knew what was going on and how to get to and fro, we obliged, to be nice.

We got out at the supermarket so we could buy some beer. So we ended up paying twice as much money to get to the spot we would have ended up in had we just taken the bus to the next stop. But hey, the old man was just trying to be helpful. We ate at the same restaurant we had already been to with Cecilia the night before. The waiter remembered us and what we ate, so we just re-ordered that. There was one man in the entire restaurant, and he really wanted to just keep cheersing us and offering Rory cigarettes. Priceless!

All in all, it was a pretty kickass day. It's nice to get through a day with no trouble, knowing that our Chinese is super limited. Hopefully we'll know some pretty basic stuff soon.

Okay, that's all for now. Will post more pictures and blah blah blahs soon. Thanks for all of your comments--it's good to know that folks out there care about what we're doing.